Intro Idea

In Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the journey up the Congo river reveals Marlow’s unsteady psychological state as he travels deeper into the jungle in search of the infamous captain Kurts. Marlow behaves irrationally, and his ability to communicate becomes impaired due to his uneasy state of mind. Despite his sporadic behavior and speech, Marlow manages to maintain a partial sense of control and restraint. In accordance to Freudian psychology when external checks, otherwise known as societal norms, are absent, one becomes suseptible to the supressed desires of their id. Marlow demonstrates a resistance to the temptations of his id, unlike Kurts the man he seems to idolize. Despite Marlow’s resistance to his subconsious desires, by the end of the novel his psychological state has been altered. Therefore, Marlow’s journey can be exmanined through his psychological deterioration as he travels up river toward Kurt’s village, and through his psychological transformation as he meets Kurts and attempts to return him to the civilized world.